Local information/General Conversation

Wikimania 2008 Alexandria :: Change the shape of wisdom

Wikitravel Press has created the official Wikimania 2008 travel guide to Cairo and Alexandria. The guide is licensed under Creative Commons by-sa 1.0, and it's available for your reading and editing pleasure at the Wikitravel website:

Alexandria - Cairo (including the Pyramids) - Egypt reference - Egyptian Arabic phrasebook

Printed copies of the June guidebook will be distributed on site (while supplies last), but those wanting to grab a copy before the conference can buy it online (US$11.99) — new July version now available. Take a look at the Alexandria sample chapter (PDF, 6.3 MB) to see what it looks like!

Any changes made now will be integrated into the next edition. You can help make it the best guide there can be!

When you update the content below, please add all your comments on Wikitravel too!

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General conversation

People who live in Alexandria are among the most helpful people in the world,The official language of Alexandria is Standard Arabic and is used in most written media. Egyptian Arabic ( The language spoken in Alexandria ) is the national and spoken language. Arabic came to Egypt in the seventh century and Egyptian Arabic has since become the modern speech of the country. Of the many varieties of Arabic, it is the most widely spoken second dialect, probably due to the influence of Egyptian cinema throughout the Arabic speaking world. English and French are also widely spoken and used in business and educated circles, Some young people in Alexandria speak Deutsch but not very much . If you want to contact people in Alexandria in their mother language ( Arabic ) :

Word in English The opposite word in Arabic
Hello (Hi) El salam alekom
Response We alikom el salam
Good morning Sabah el kher
Good evening/night Masaa el kher
Thanks Shokran
Nothing El afo
Please Law samaht
Pardon ( I'm sorry ) Ana asef (asfa for feminine)
Excuse me Law samaht
How are you ? Izayak ( Izayik for feminine )
Where is ... ? Feen ... ?
How much is ... ? Bekam ... ?
When ... ? Emta ... ?
Yes Aiwa
No Laa
Ambulance essa'af
Help Elhao'ony

There are some words that are the same in Arabic and English like Police , Taxi , Bus .... etc for the list of this words you can go to this site wikipedia:List_of_English_words_of_Arabic_origin .

This site will help you with the most common phrases since you get to the airport http://lexicon.egypt.travel/ See also wikitravel:Egyptian Arabic phrasebook, Arabic on Wikibooks and w:en:Arabic language.